Once Knew
by Lonessa 8D
Summary: Mercury pushes too far. Surrounded by people he once knew, he finally finds redemption. (V5E12 snippet, refers to plot elements in Wilted but not canon to its storyline).


**Once Knew**

 _Summary_ : Mercury pushes too far. Surrounded by people he once knew, he finally finds redemption. (V5E12 snippet, refers to plot elements in Wilted).

 _This was written before the episode Downfall. It's just... listen when Mercury and Ruby talk to each other or interact in any way I get super excited because omg shIP AGH,_

...

He watches as the body of someone he once knew falls limp on the ground.

From a distance, he can see the rise and fall of her chest. He can see the embers of the spear of fire scatter in the wind around her. Her normally pristine appearance now holds blood and bruises, clothes smoldering under the effects of the fire spear.

He used to (still does) call her _Ice_.

He doesn't let her demise shake his core. He turns to another girl he once knew to see her fists lowered and eyes unbelieving. He sees the tears welling in her eyes, threatening to drip off her eyelashes. Emerald sees it too, and he spares her a glance.

As he watches her debate in her head over who to run to, he smirks. The metal gleam of her arm gives him an odd sense of sadness, but he shakes such feelings away. He banned himself of them when he turned away this family at Beacon.

His heel connects to the back of Yang's neck, forcing her to her hands and knees. He takes his spot beside Emerald as his partner gloats over the blonde that he once held dear. Her wild lilac eyes flick around like pendulums. Emerald is playing tricks, it seems.

" _Weiss!_ "

The voice makes him pause for just one second. It flashes him back to silver eyes and red roses. He shakes it away.

He can't— _won't_ feel anything for her anymore.

Yang bolts up in a fiery whirlwind. The illusions he knows are surrounding her fade as Emerald readies herself for Yang's metallic fist, but his boot stops the attack.

"Gonna have to do better than that, _Blondie._ "

Yang's lilac eyes fill with angst and anger. "Thought it was _Sis._ "

His smirk drops.

They fight with no playful vigor or amused looks as they did at the festival. There are no light jabs and triumphant remarks. There is bitterness and anger and a lust for revenge. These things shoot from Yang's eyes and hit him in the chest, and while she herself isn't landing any blows he gets hit _hard_.

Eventually Emerald crafts an illusion that hits home for Yang. Her eyes go wide and she murmurs _Mom?_ , giving him just enough time to dart in and knock her down. Her head hangs, beaten but defiant. Her eyes burn holes into his soul.

"Go," Mercury instructs. Emerald charges.

He hears a cry of exertion. He senses the wind shift above him as a red figure zips over his head and halts Emerald's charge. She's forced back, and Emerald gasps out a breath as she lands beside him.

His own breath leaves him once he sees who it is.

Silver eyes glow cold and calculating as _Crescent Rose_ 's blade runs behind her leg. Her left arm runs down the handle of her scythe while the right hand grips the red metal tight. Her glare is enough to puncture his lungs. He grits his teeth and snarls.

Yang stands beside Ruby Rose, the one he used to (still does) call _Gem_.

Ruby murmurs something to Yang, but all she stares at is him. There is no adoration. There is no sympathy. There is no love.

This is… the first time he saw the absence of any of those feelings in her eyes.

He charges for her. She brings her scythe around and they dance, sometimes changing partners, but always returning to clash boot to scythe. His wicked grin forms as nostalgia runs in his veins.

"Hey there, Little Red," He greets as his arms press against the handle of her weapon. "So, what speech will it be this time? How will you try to redeem me, huh?"

He relishes these moments. When Ruby realized his company and intent she always tried to reason, to convert him. It makes his heart warm in a way. It's his own way of ensuring she still cares. He misses the feel of petal lips against him and the smell of vanilla and strawberries but he convinces himself it's better this way, better to love her through metal clangs, hardened looks, and lazy smirks. It's sustained him so far.

He can already predict her answer. She will point out all the wrongs in his thinking, and the strength her family has. The _love_ her family has. Her speeches interest him and energize him, but he will never fall to the other side. Not when he's already so deep in.

But Ruby's next words cause him pause. "No speech, Mercury." Her tone is flat and her eyes are hard, and her eyes look _wrong_ because _he_ was supposed to be the one that can mask all emotion. "I'm not trying anymore."

His world stops spinning.

 _I'm not trying anymore._

Her eyes hold nothing but rage and malice. Her hands clench her weapon with an eager need to rip her blade through him. It's actually happened. He's pushed her to the point where she no longer can muster her care for him.

His mind flashes to Weiss, spear through abdomen and body flopping to the ground. _Or maybe_ _ **we**_ _pushed her to this point._

"What?" He feels himself asking, but he cannot control himself. The word falls out as his jaw unhinges, with Mercury suddenly looking at his body from the outside.

His Gem's teeth clench and her petal lips peel back into a snarl. " _I'm not trying anymore._ " Her eyes narrow into slits, silver ingots glowing before him. But then her face relaxes and she gives him the most pitying look he ever witnessed. It makes him _cringe._ "I can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped, so… goodbye, Mercury."

 _Goodbye. Goodbye…_

 _goodbye_

 _goodbye gooDBYE GOODBYE_

 _GOODBYE_

 _GOODBYE_

 _GOODBYE_

It rattles in his head as he rears back from the sudden push she gives him, eyes cold (cold cold _so cold_ ) and takes her own place by her sister that she used to let _him_ call sister and now he realizes he can't ever use that nickname again. She said goodbye.

 _Goodbye goodbye goodbye—_

" _Focus_!" Emerald hisses. He doesn't.

Memories are all that's left. There is no Ruby and Mercury anymore. A scythe chopped it in half and silver eyes burned it away, leaving only ash in his mouth. All his words burned away and his brain is mush, and he can feel but he _can't_ and it's the oddest, most unwelcome feeling he knows.

 _Where is he now? Where is he now?_

His anchor has left him adrift at sea. His one source to assure him there's always a chance of normalcy has flown away. His dance with love no longer a reality.

His body is charged through the compassion of Ruby Rose. He remembers her hand reaching to his and nights out scouring for ice cream shops. He remembers linking together souls and burning bright silver. He remembers rose petals and burning metal. He remembers the glow in her eyes and her silken hair, he remembers her reassuring warmth surrounding him when she hugged him and the feel of her lips brushing against his cheek. He remembers.

But it said goodbye.

He truly wants her to redeem him. But through talk never works with him. Action always produces results for Mercury. And he realizes this is her last effort. He realizes why her eyes are cold and her soul crying.

So he fights. And he falls. Falls to the scythe of a girl named Ruby Rose, with cold, silver eyes. As his soul leaks from his body and hands grab at his cheeks, he sees pity again. He sees silver but he can't see the light within. He did this to her. He doesn't deserve this kindness.

" _Gem…_ "

And with that, Mercury Black fades away while in the arms of a love he once knew.

And Ruby Rose cries for the both of them.


End file.
